The Columbus journal., 1887-11-09
RUSSIAN NEWSPAPERS.
ONLY Geo JOURNALS PUBLISHED III
THE CARS ENTIRE EMPIRE.

All the Noted Newspspers Conducted BY
independent Writers Have Been Abol-
fsl,eti--Gfacial statisties-why Russia Is
AImos: spaperless-warninss.
A CO: ',)ic,c stagnation threatens the
Russian press. 1t is not because nova
days ,hc:r are no able writers in Russia.
The trouble is that the present minister of
the in.cr!cr, Count ID. Toistoi, has sue
ceetieu IL: ;.i:oisshing all the noted journals
conducted iy talented and Independent
writers. Tag l..t Of the periodical punli-
cations tat have been suppressed during
the ia:;; six years is far more inicrcstin;
and valuable than all the papers now liv-
ing. Now there is no originality about
Russian journals, no freshness and none
of that domestic stirring interest which
in the days gone by used to SO much at
tract attention in all parts of the great
empire.
The suspended Golos (The Voice has
left fully $1,000 subscribers without any
paper TO their taste, fer none of them dare
to defend the constitutional form of the
government Gs The GOlos did. In the
sixties, wien the czar-iberator tried to
free the press from the iron grip of the
censor. Nicholas Tchernyshevsky started
The Contemporary Review, monthly in
which ne taught the Russian public for
the first time to conscientiOusly criticise
the government measures. 1t is impos-
sible in this country even to imagine
what IA whirlwind of public opinion he
raised as by magic. But even the iber-
ator coEld rot long stand such freedom of
discussion, and Tchernyshevsky was sent
TO Siberia for seven years and kept there
for fifteen. But the martyrOlogy of the
Russian editors and writer's is too long to
he given here.
Tic number of periodicals issued in
Eussia amounts TO a little over 600. AS
the population OF the cZar's empire is
1OJ, 900. COO, it is evident then that it takes
l10.o0O Russian subjects to support one
periodical, whereas in the United States
every 4.WO souls support some publica-
ton.
EUSSIk'S 400 PERIODICALS.
Putting aside eco periodicals published
in other than the Russian language, the
tC0 Euss:an periodicals are classified rs
follows: Daily, 80; weekly, So; monthly,
81: several times per week, &c; several
tines per year, 133. Nearly Onc-l,alf the
kI:'sian periodicals are published in the
capital of the empire, st. Petersburg, and
one-,nird in seven of the largest towns,
leaving Tor The rest of the great empire less
than lO0 periodicals.. lii the car S country
there are many towns of 1O,GOO, 10000,
OF even 4O,G0O inhabitants which have not
Il periodical of any kind The whole Of
Siberia. with LOCO, 600 Of population, las
only two newspapers and bi-mOnthly of
geographical society
According to the official statistics fur
nisEed by the post department last year
in Russia there passed through the mail
about U,jOO,OCO copies of Russian peri
cdicals OF all sorts, and 4.5GO, 600 of for
elgn periodicals were received in Russia
Thus ii appears that there is not for each
subject Of the car during year even d
single copy of any periodical, Russian or
foreign.
Why is the Russian press so insicnifi-
cant as to its volume? Some say il is be-
cause fully 50 per cent. of the Russians
are llliterate. But if the educated and
schOoied russians would read newspapers
as freely as Americans do, then in Russia
there would be J, 5,OGO periodicals instead If
GG0. There are other causes that make
the cars country almost newSpapericss
In the first place, there is no political life
at all, and The industrial life there is
in Its embryotic state. Russians have
not SO much news to exchange rs the
People in other countries have. In the
second place. the autOcratic government
Systematically and most strenucusly op-
poses the growth Of the press Cars have
always been aware that writers. even
though in the clutches of censOrs and
under political supervision, arr apt to
think for themselves, to argue and to
criticise. Thus they develop in them
selves and in their readers the qualities
most decidedly objectionable in imperial
subjects. Every job printer in Russia
must procure police certificate of good
character and furnish bonds, and every
publisher, besides these qualifications,
must maintain an imperial inspector at
his own establishment.
In Russia every editor of prominence
must pass part of his life in prison. If
we add to that the fatal ministerial warn
ings, prohibition of inserting advertise
ments, heavy fines and suspension, we
shall wonder not that there are so few
periodicals, but that among Russians
there are men and women ready to enter
the career of journalist, which ranks in
danger next to that of conspirator.
cOw Letter.